The Classical test Source For All The Performing, Visual And Literary Arts & Entertainment News
Miscellaneous

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Presents 'Birth of the American Orchestra' with Wynton Marsalis: Includes Music by Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Don Redman and More

Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will present a pair of concerts exploring the "Birth of the American Orchestra" Jan. 9 and 10 at the Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, in New York City.Bebop pioneer Dizzy Gillespie once told JALC’s managing and artistic director Marsalis something that would forever change his perception of big bands: "One should not consider it an achievement to lose one's orchestral tradition.”According to the Lincoln Center website, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis delves into this American phenomenon through the syncopated dance beats of New Orleans, innovative ensemble virtuosity and the monumentality of swing and the blues. They will also explore the roles of orchestral instrumentation and the expansion of harmonic prospects, the evolution of the rhythm section and the distinctiveness of the master composers and arrangers involved.This show is partly inspired by Marsalis’s September 2013 Harvard University lecture "Setting the Communal Table: The Evolution of the Jazz Orchestra.”The JLCO is expected to perform the music of Don Redman, Fletcher Henderson, Bill Challis, Duke Ellington, Benny Carter, Eddie Durham, Chico O’Farrill and Gil Fuller. These jazz architects, along with Gillespie’s mantra, are the foundation of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra — an orchestra with an astonishing concentration of talented musicians and a collective regarded as the “finest big band in the world today,” said the website.
By Jaime Prisco

  • Bamboo Sphere Breathes Life into Long Island City's Noguchi Museum

    A computer-controlled breathing sphere is among the non-moving stone giants at the Noguchi Museum in Long Island City.
    By Jaime Prisco

  • BBC Presents Documentary on the Theft and Recovery of the Lipinski Stradivarius Violin

    Though many stories have hit the hearts of classical music lovers in 2014, none shocked people as much as the theft and recovery of the Lipinski Stradivarius violin. Now, BBC will broadcast a documentary called "The Lipinski," detailing the events which lead to this worldwide news sensation.The story begins with Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Frank Almond, who walked out of Wisconsin performances with the rare Lipinski Stradivarius slung over his shoulder. At this point, a man got out of a van in the parking lot, tased Almond and stole the violin. The Strad, which was made by a 17th- and 18th-century Italian luthier named Antonio Stradivari, is said to be worth $5 million to $6 million. The reason for this high asking price is because there are only about 650 left in the world.Days went by without a trace of the Lipinski Stradivarius, which was on loan to Almond. The Milwaukee Police Department and the FBI worked quickly. At a local news conference one week after the theft, Police Chief Edward Flynn announced that they had safely recovered the Lapinski Strad. They had discovered it, undamaged, in a suitcase in an attic. Two men were arrested, including the mastermind behind the theft, who pleaded guilty this month to felony robbery.
    By Jaime Prisco